Donne
as a love poet
Introduction: The variety and
scope of Donne’s love poetry is really remarkable. He hinges between physical and
holy love, between cynicism and faith in love and above all the sanctity of
married life. He was born at the time when writing love-poems was both a
fashionable and literary exercise. Donne showed his talent in this genre. His
poems are entirely different from the Elizabethan love-lyrics. They are
singular for their fascination and charm and depth of feeling.
When by thy scorn, o murderess,
I am dead
And that thou think’st thee free
From all solicitations from me,
Then shall my ghost come
to thy bed
Donne does not lay stress on beauty or
rather the aesthetic element in passion. His poems are sensuous and fantastic.
He goes through the whole gamut of passion. Dryden writes: Donne affects
the metaphysics not only in his satires but in his amorous verses
where nature only should reign. He perplexes the minds of the fair
sex with nice speculations of philosophy, when he should engage their hearts
and entertain them with the softness of love”
Tenderness and sentiment are not
the qualities to be found in Donne’s poetry. Donne in Lover’s Infinitenesse,
pleads with his beloved that she should give him a part of her heart. After she
has given him the part, he demands the whole heart. This is the goal and
consummation of love. He then startles and outrages the expectations of his
readers.
I long to talk with some old
lover’s ghost;
Who died before that God of
love was born,
Twice or thrive had I loved thee,
Before I knew they face or name.
Donne’s love poems can be divided
under three heads.
Poems of moods of lovers,
seduction and free love or fanciful relationship
Poems addressed to his wife Anne
More (his wife) before and after his marriage.
Poems addressed to other noble
ladies.
Three Strands of his poetry.
Firstly, there is the cynical which anti-woman and hostile to the fair-sex. The
theme is the frailty of man – a matter of advantage for lovers who liked casual
and extra-marital relations with ladies. Secondly, there is the strand of happy
married life, the joy of conjugal love in poems like A Valediction: forbidding
mourning. Thirdly, there is the Platonic strand, as in The Canonization where
love is regarded as a holy emotion like the worship of a devotee to God.
Donne’s treatment of love-poems is realistic and not idealistic because he
knows the weakness of the flesh, pleasures of sex, the joy of secret meetings.
However, he tries to establish the relationship between body and soul.
True love doesn’t pertain to the body; it is the relationship of body and
soul to the other soul. Physical union may not be necessary as
in A Valediction: a forbidding mourning. However, in the Relic, the poet
regardedphysical union as the necessary complement. Despite the realistic
touches, Donne nowhere seems to draw the physical beauty or
contours of the female body. Rather, he describes its reaction on the lover’s
heart. It is highly surprising that a poet so fond of sex, be restrained from
describing the physical patterns of the female body.
True Sex is holy: That sex is
holy whether inside or outside marriage is declared by Donne in his love-poems.
If love is mutual, physical union even outside marriage cannot be
condemned. As a Christian, he may not justify extra-marital relationships, but
as a lover and poet, he does accept and enjoy this reality. Donne feels that
love-bond is necessary for sexual union otherwise mere sex without any
spiritual love for the partner is degrading and mean. However, true
love can exist outside marriage, though moralists may sneer at this idea of
Donne. He doesn’t feel that woman is a sex-doll or a goddess. She is
essentially a bundle of contradictions. He believes in ‘Frailty, thy name is
woman’. His contempt for woman is compensated by his respect for conjugal love.
At times, he regards woman as the angel who can give him ultimate bliss. This
two-fold attitude is Donne’s typical quality as the poet. The poems referring
to his wife, Anne More reflect true serenity and consummation of love.
Donne’s uniqueness: While the
Elizabethan lyrics are, by large limitations of Petrarchan traditions, Donne’s
poems stand in a class by themselves. He broke away from the traditional
concept of poetry as was Petrarchan in nature. The concept of woman
in Petrarchan and in that of Donne is totally different. Another quality is his
passion and though, he doesn’t allow his passion to run away with him. Grierson
writes: Donne’s poetry is a very complex phenomenon, but the two
dominant strains in it are just these: the strains of dialectic, subtle play of
argument and wit and fantastic; and the strain of vivid realism and a record of
passion. Donne shows the supremacy of love.
Love, all like, no season knows
nor clime,
Nor hours, days, months, which
are the rags of time, in fact true love is the merger of two souls. Donne
has certainly been an innovator of a new kind of love-poetry. What surprises
the reader is the variety of different moods and situations of the theme of
love – sensual, violent, and full of vivacity of life. There is scorn,
cynicism, bitterness and sarcasm but the force of love is genuine and
unquestionable. Donne is one of the greatest English love-poets. In fact, among
all the English love-poets, he is the complete amongst them.
No comments:
Post a Comment